Saturday, November 1, 2008

Boating Accident Kills Man near Georgetown

Coast Guard Sector Charleston is reporting that the Coast Guard responded to a boating accident that left a boater unconscious on the Intracoastal Waterway between the North Santee River and Winyah Bay near Georgetown, S.C., Friday evening.

Ed Fountain, 68, of Timmonsville, S.C., was pronounced dead upon his arrival at Georgetown Memorial Hospital. Georgetown County Coroner, Kenny Johnson, says Fountian died suddenly as a result of neck injuries when the boat he was on collided with a fixed-aid-to-navigation in the Intracoastal Waterway Friday evening.

The Coast Guard was notified at approximately 8:24 p.m. Friday that a 17-foot boat with two people aboard collided with a fixed aid-to-navigation between the North Santee River and Winyah Bay.

A Coast Guard 25-foot boat crew from Station Georgetown launched and met the damaged boat crew in the vicinity of the South Island Ferry Boat Landing. The boat crew disembarked the injured passenger and transported him to medical personnel waiting ashore. Donald Spencer was also injured in the accident and treated for leg injuries.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources will conduct an investigation into the cause of the accident.

About The Author

Cedar Posts and Barbed Wire Fences is the work of a life long resident of the Carolinas and a part-time resident of Charleston. A one time photographer for the Charlotte News and the Charlotte Observer the author's work has appeared in Boating, Men's Journal, MTOA Monthly and countless, yacht club, church and civic newsletters none of whom paid the author a dime.
The author makes no claim about the truth or political correctness of items reported herein.
Cedar Posts like fishing stories told over a cold beer are subject to varying degrees of embellishment.

About the Title Photo

The photo at the top is mine and is one of my favorites. It first ran in the Charlotte Observer nearly 25 years ago. In fact I'm surprised that I could find it.

It was taken with a Cannon F-1 (I still have the camera) in the last fading light of a cold winter day on Ocracoke Island.

I nearly missed the last ferry back to Hatteras Island because I was waiting for the surface to become glass like calm, the way I'd seen it a few days before.

But as it turned out the tiny ripples give the photo depth and life. If you look at the photo closely you can see both the current in the water and the ocean breeze pushing the grass in the foreground.